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A Long Island dad is suing Hofstra University over junk ticket fees after surprise add-odds when buying seats to a basketball game– including a mystery $2.08 “per-ticket” surcharge.
Dominick Serra was only hit with a $5 processing charge and the “per-ticket fee” once he was completing his order for a pair of $12 tickets to a January showdown between Hofstra’s women’s basketball game and rival Stony Brook, the new lawsuit said.
The disgruntled dad — who lives in Stony Brook — bought the tickets in-person for him and his 7-year-old daughter before the game and was appalled to notice the previously undisclosed $7.08 in extra costs, according to the suit, filed last week in Nassau County court.
“We’re all well acquainted with the feeling that we’ve been scammed, tricked, or flat-out deceived when shopping for products and services,” Serra’s attorney Michael Sampson wrote in the suit.
“That’s why the phrase ‘junk fees,’ was coined by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,” he added.
Sampson said his client is a sports fan with a serious gripe and not a Stony Brook fan looking to target a rival university.
New York’s 2022 Ticketing Law, which requires venues to disclose the total cost of a ticket — fees included — before a customer selects their seat, according to the suit.
But the suit claims Hofstra charges a mandatory $5 processing fee for all ticket purchases and a variable per-ticket fee on every individual admissions sale, neither of which is disclosed until checkout.
“It is only after the individual has selected the desired event/seat(s)/price that these additional fees are quantified and added to the total price of the sale,” Sampson wrote.
“In fact, it is only at this advanced stage of the purchase process that Hofstra even discloses – for the first time – that it will charge the individual any fees,” he said, calling it a “disingenuous approach.”
The suit is seeking class-action status.
Lawsuit documents estimate the class action could mean as much as hundreds of thousands of dollars in overcharges based on attendance records showing more than 30,000 fans attended Hofstra’s 13 home men’s basketball games in the 2022-23 season.
Serra is asking a judge to reimburse the fees and pay “actual damages,” treble damages and attorneys’ fees. The suit is also asking the court to declare Hofstra’s ticketing practices unlawful and order them to stop the practice entirely.
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